Council Budget

So there is a £900k deficit in the recycling budget contract – are the officers and Lead Council Members stil employed / on the Council who signed the deal. The deal consisted of fees that were vased on market prices of recycled materials – with volitile market prices why did they not sign a contract wuth a bottom line fee so the risk rests with the provate contractor and not the Council- yet again ratepayers are being hit with cuts in service due to irresponsible contract management. (Remember the super schools fiasco and the massive budget over run- same again)

Why is it that the Council are going to be able to find in excess of £200k to subsuidise the new Arts Hub when Social Care is being cut- remember the fiasco of the Council trying to run a Nursery that lost in excess of £100k in two years!!

Why are they using money intended for Education to provide Breakfast Clubs — since when have parents been allowed to get away not feeding their children- if these clubs are for convenience so parents can go to work then they should be paying the full cost. We should not be creating a nanny state where parents no longer take responsibility.

People of Wrexham really do need to ask each of their Councillors about this budget and each Councillor should be proactive to find out views- that is what they were elected for to represent their Ward.

Add in the fine the Council had to pay for the Health and Safety breach and there is over a £1,000,000 less savings they would have had to find. Also remember the Council are providing capital funding to the Arts Hub which is obviously seen as a higher priority than any of the proposed cuts.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that the councillors discussed a salary reduction in what they received (every little bit helps) but what a surprise for us all when Tom & Jerry and their gang of sheep voted against it and now we have the doom and gloom scenario once again raising its ugly head.
Just shows where their priorities are and due to what may have to happen with the budgets for next year this council needs to seriously look at the vanity project/ arts hub (projected loss for at least the first three years and perhaps even longer).
They also need to look at their staffing levels with regards to the number of Divisional/Operational managers they have is there a great need for so many.

Why are they using money intended for Education to provide Breakfast Clubs — since when have parents been allowed to get away not feeding their children- if these clubs are for convenience so parents can go to work then they should be paying the full cost. We should not be creating a nanny state where parents no longer take responsibility.

Sorry, why are you advocating taking food from children’s mouths? I think we can talk about a hundred different areas before we have to resort to that. Any services for children, the elderly and vulnerable should be protected first and foremost. As a full ratepayer, breakfast clubs is definitely something I’m glad my money is spent on, even though I don’t make use of them myself. Parents who have to go to work early and are dropping their kids off at breakfast clubs are clearly ratepayers themselves and are paying in. I seriously doubt these parents are letting their children starve. I imagine breakfast clubs have been the difference for some parents choosing to take up work vs staying at home being full time childcarers, knowing they can get into work for 9 o clock without worrying about who is going to drop their kids off in school on time. Even those with a Conservative mindset should be able to see the clear benefits.

I had forgotten about the minor cut in Allownaces that was proposed by some Councillors but which failed to get approval. Was there actually a vote on the proposal ? Although unusual I would have thought a recorded vote would have been appropriate.

Page 6 paragraph 11 of the councillors budget overview refers to cuts in the services provided by park rangers
‘The Council manages 11 Country and Urban Parks. It is proposed to reduce the number of park rangers working within the parks’
It mentions savings of £100k; I’m not sure what park rangers earn, I guess its not much above living wage, so I can only presume that means 4 or 5 rangers being sacked?

In todays Leader Councillor David A Bithell (lead member for environment) appeals for help cleaning up stryt las park and says
“the rangers do an excellent job of looking after our parks but now and again they need our support….”
“please help if you can and show your support for the park rangers”

So the councillor wants us to show our support for the rangers at the same time he is planning to mercilessly cut their jobs.

How can anyone so two faced be allowed to ru(i)n the council? Despicable publicity seeking little twerp.

I wonder if any executive board member will have the guts to speak out against these cuts? … stupid question really

Matt
I was not advocating taking food from children just that if parents are dropping children off to go to work then they should pay for the childcare.

There needs to be some real consideration about how the Council cost all of their services and give consideration if the private or community sector can still provide good quality services at a cheaper cost. At present the Council operates on a 29% plus pension contribution for all staff = 8/9% for current staff and 21% to feed pension deficits – surely other providers would deliver more for less and still provide quality provision. There is no difference in the way a private sector care home is inspected compared with a Local Authority.

The proposal to raise £25,000 by revoking the entitlements of Blue Badge holders to me does not add up.
There are 7000 Blue Badge holders in the County Borough. If all 7000 came into town, once every three weeks for 2 hours @ £1.50 per stay, it would raise £168,000.
How accurate are the figures on which decisions are taken?

These cuts are disgraceful. A disproportionate number of them seem to target the most vulnerable in our society – disabled, elderly, etc – the ones who they know are less likely to be able to respond to a largely online consultation exercise.

Opposite of the cuts are the expenditure lines that reflect an imbalance- look at what is being spent ion Leisure Service improvement that Freedom Lesure run yet not a penny to Splash for running Plas Madoc. Is this really far why are the ratepayers who use that facility not benefitting.

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